For many reasons, water quality, and the monitoring and testing of water, has become a very important undertaking in today's environment. More and more bodies of water are being monitored for quality on a regular basis. Further, water samples are being taken, analyzed and recorded for a greater number of locations within given bodies of water.
The water samples are taken and analyzed in order to determine resident amounts of various chemicals and biological elements. These measurements are then logged into a database for subsequent planning purposes. As various actions are taken to purify or de-contaminate the water, sampling-is again used to determine whether or not the water treatment plans are effective.
Currently, all government and state agencies are monitoring water quality using multi-sensor units called “multiprobes”.
The sensing devices or multiprobes are equipped with sensors to measure different water quality parameters or characteristics such as, inter alia, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, salinity, temperature, turbidity, ammonia, nitrate, Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP), and many others. The sensor devices also include an electronic circuit board in a water-sealed housing as well as a real time electric clock, analog and digital circuitry to control the operation of the sensors based upon a real time schedule. The multiprobes or sensor units are continuously submerged in water during the deployment time. Sediments and biological life in the water cause fouling of the sensors or probes and affect the sensor's performance and longevity.
In a typical application, a water sensing device is placed under water at a location where the water is to be analyzed. Periodically, according to a programmed schedule, different measurements are taken by various sensors or probes which are mounted at the end of the water sensing device within the water. These readings are stored in memory onboard the sensing device and periodically the sensing device is pulled from the water and connected to a computer, for example a personal computer (PC) or laptop computer, where the readings that had been taken are transferred from the sensing device to files on the PC for further processing, recording and distribution.
As hereinbefore noted, a main problem for this method of water testing is the fouling process which occurs because the water to be analyzed is in constant contact with the testing probes. As a result, sediments, biological life and other factors take their toll of the sensing probes and, over time, render the probes inaccurate if not ineffective. If the fouling problem is not corrected by cleaning the probes on a regular basis, the readings taken by the sensing device are inaccurate and sometimes readings cannot even be taken rendering the water sensing device useless.
In the past, this problem has been corrected by physically removing the sensing device from its water habitat, and physically cleaning the sensors or sensing probes before re-installing the sensing devices to their testing locations under water. However, this process is quite expensive and requires much manpower to keep the sensing probes clean so that accurate readings can be taken and the readings can be relied upon in making water treatment plans.
Thus, there is a need for an improved processing system and apparatus which enables a longer term deployment of water quality sensing devices and less frequent cleaning time for such devices.